Blog

The summer of 2021 was filled with another series of lockdowns to ensure the safety of all during the second wave of COVID-19. One of the days, I received a call from my friend briefing me about a course she had launched - Junior CEOs. She invited me as a guest lecturer for the initial few sessions so the children could understand the basics of running a business. It sounded like an amazing opportunity and I loved teaching kids, so I thought, “Let’s do this”. It was followed by discussions on the session flow and she guided me through my first session. 

I was amazed by how the brains of these ten to sixteen year olds worked. They were so enthusiastic about the class, it was contagious. I am sure they had as much fun attending the sessions as I did taking sessions. I appreciate the feedback I received from parents and children, knowing I was making a difference in the lives of these children and to nurture their thoughts at such a young age. My heartfelt gratitude to the parents for providing their children this opportunity and exposure for our Junior CEOs to grow to be amazing human beings as well.

The children were creative, innovative and simply brilliant. They were amazing at connecting the dots. They integrated robotics and artificial intelligence in setting up a lemonade stand. They imagined ways to receive their customers and even aesthetics, apart from just the essentials. This provides us an insight into the mindset of the new age children. Children these days are far ahead in their pace of growth, given the extensive access to information that they have. A child is always curious to learn more and it’s the responsibility of the people around to channel these thoughts and energy in the right direction. 

As the sessions grew more technical, they were able to relate to real life examples. They would mention things their parents did at home, observations from stores or insights from their family businesses. Kids imbibe more through actions performed, than the teachings taught through words. In fact, one of the guidelines set in class was to participate rather than focus on writing. Children learnt through mini case-studies and activities done in the sessions during the class. The sessions were very interactive, engaging their attention and pushing them into finding solutions. The benefits of interactive and application-based learning are immense.

The interaction with the children helped me understand how the sessions could be structured and altered to better benefit them. We made sure to integrate our learnings from each interaction to improve the sessions that followed. Teaching is similar to filming – few people know of the thousand hands working “behind the scenes”. It helped me understand and appreciate my teachers more for their effort in shaping me into who I am today. I feel honoured to have been able to play the role of a guiding force in a child’s life. The shift from offline to online teaching is not an easy one. I salute all our teachers out there, passionately shaping the future, adapting to the changing times and nurturing each seed uniquely.